Methods, which use an anisotropic conductive adhesive to connect electric components each having, in a connection portion, a terminal array that reflects a recent trend that the number of pins is increasing and their pitch is decreasing, have been put into practical use. The anisotropic conductive adhesive is configured in such a manner that conductive particles such as metal particles made of silver or a solder or particles produced by plating plastic resin particles with gold are dispersed in an insulative, thermosetting resin adhesive such as an epoxy resin. Pressure and heat are applied in a state that the anisotropic conductive adhesive is interposed between two connection portions that are positioned with respect to each other, whereby conductive particles are fusion-welded to confronting terminal arrays of the two connection portions and, at the same time, the resin is set thermally. In this manner, the confronting terminal arrays can be connected to each other electrically and the two connection portions can be connected to each other physically (refer to Patent document 1). In many cases, an electric components connecting process is divided into two processes, that is, a tentative fixing process and a final fixing process. The throughput is increased by executing the two processes in parallel (i.e., simultaneously) using an assembling line in which a tentative pressure bonding apparatus for tentative fixing and a final pressure bonding apparatus for final fixing are linked to each other (refer to Patent document 2). The tentative pressure bonding apparatus positions terminal arrays with respect to each other that are provided in pair in two respective connection portions, and performs tentative fixing. The final pressure bonding apparatus performs final fixing in which pressure and heat are applied to the tentatively fixed connection portions and a resin adhesive is thereby set completely.
When transported from the tentative pressure bonding apparatus to the final pressure bonding apparatus, the tentatively fixed electric components may receive external force such as vibration force. Therefore, a certain measure should be taken to prevent positional deviation from occurring between the two terminal arrays that are positioned with respect to each other. To this end, a tape-shaped ACF (anisotropic conductive film) is used widely as an anisotropic conductive adhesive. The ACF has an advantage that the positional relationship between two terminal arrays that are positioned with respect to each other is less prone to change, because its surface is tacky and high bonding strength can be produced by relatively low pressure. The bonding strength may be increased by forming an adhesive layer on the surface of the ACF (refer to Patent document 3).
[Patent document 1] JP-A-11-186334
[Patent document 2] JP-A-9-283896
[Patent document 3] JP-A-8-249930